Laptop checking in airports

I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the
laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably
into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is
there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the
computer?

curious wrote in message
...
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on
get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up
the
laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop
(presumably
into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is
there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the
computer?


No virus, since it is not allowed to bring them into some countries.
So probably they kill them all before take-off.

Ron

Kill them? That's ridiculous!
They might ask you to boot it up, they might check for explosive residue
with a swab of cloth, they might even (I haven't seen this, seems like an
urban legend) plug a device into a USB port to see if it has power; they
won't kill it or load a virus into your machine. All of these assumptions
are based on the premise that you aren't going to 'the Matrix.'
geotek


"R@L" wrote in message
. ..
curious wrote in message
...
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on
get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot
up
the
laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop
(presumably
into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and
is
there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into
the
computer?


No virus, since it is not allowed to bring them into some countries.
So probably they kill them all before take-off.

Ron

curious wrote in message
...
I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on
get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up
the
laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop
(presumably
into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is
there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the
computer?


I've never had anything put into my laptop and most of the
time these days all they do is x-ray them separately.

Keith

In article , curious wrote:

I've seen people who try to take their laptops onto a plane as carry-on get
stopped by security at the gate. The security guard asks them to boot up the
laptop, and then they insert some sort of device into the laptop (presumably
into the USB port or something). What exactly does this device do, and is
there a possibility of a virus being transmitted from the device into the
computer?

I have traveled by air with my laptop many times in the United States
and I never had anyone at a United States airport touch my laptop in any
way. The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond
description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those
bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to
boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to
complete before he told me to move on.

"Shawn Hearn" wrote:

snip
... The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond
description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those
bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to
boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to
complete before he told me to move on.

The issue is really that you will comply. I guess the thought behind
all this is that the most likely thing to fake out in a laptop to
smuggle explosives, etc on board would be the battery (usually by far
the largest single, non-obviously tampered with component that is
readily accessible from "outside" the laptop's case (i.e. you don't
have to sit there undoing case screws to get access to it -- somnething
that is likely to draw some attention to the person doing it). Also, I
_imagine_ that a laptop battery and a similarly-sized "replacement"
block of C4 or similar probably look very much the same to the X-Ray
machines...

Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting
to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no
significant threat.


--
Nick FitzGerald

Nick FitzGerald wrote:
(snip)
Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting
to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no
significant threat.


Agreed - years ago I took a portable radio with me from the UK to Spain
on holiday, and the check-in asked me to switch it on to make sure that
it worked and hadn't got explosives in it - then asked me to remove the
batteries and pack them separately so that the radio didn't interfere
with the plane's systems!

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the pier"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

"Nick FitzGerald" wrote in message
...
"Shawn Hearn" wrote:


Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting
to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no
significant threat.

Except that many laptops have *two* battery compartments!

"Shawn Hearn" wrote:

snip
... The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond
description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those
bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to
boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to
complete before he told me to move on.

The issue is really that you will comply. I guess the thought behind
all this is that the most likely thing to fake out in a laptop to
smuggle explosives, etc on board would be the battery (usually by far
the largest single, non-obviously tampered with component that is
readily accessible from "outside" the laptop's case (i.e. you don't
have to sit there undoing case screws to get access to it -- somnething
that is likely to draw some attention to the person doing it). Also, I
_imagine_ that a laptop battery and a similarly-sized "replacement"
block of C4 or similar probably look very much the same to the X-Ray
machines...

Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting
to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no
significant threat.


--
Nick FitzGerald

"Shawn Hearn" wrote:

snip
... The only issue I ever had was one day when I was tired beyond
description and I completely forgot to put my laptop in one of those
bins at the carry-on inspection gate. The inspector simply asked me to
boot up the computer and he didn't even wait for the boot sequence to
complete before he told me to move on.

The issue is really that you will comply. I guess the thought behind
all this is that the most likely thing to fake out in a laptop to
smuggle explosives, etc on board would be the battery (usually by far
the largest single, non-obviously tampered with component that is
readily accessible from "outside" the laptop's case (i.e. you don't
have to sit there undoing case screws to get access to it -- somnething
that is likely to draw some attention to the person doing it). Also, I
_imagine_ that a laptop battery and a similarly-sized "replacement"
block of C4 or similar probably look very much the same to the X-Ray
machines...

Thus, the fact that you comply with the request and see lights starting
to blink is probably enough "evidence" that the machine poses no
significant threat.


--
Nick FitzGerald